Clark Montgomery has had another great start at Blenheim
Read our report from Friday morning here
With 101 riders in the CCI3* at Blenheim Palace it has been a busy two days of dressage for the Ground Jury of Jane Tolley (GBR), Tim Downes (GBR) and Vanda Robinson (IRE) and the last rider to come in front of them was Australia’s Kate Chadderton who has come a long way to compete here.
Kate Chadderton and VS McCuan Civil Liberty
Although Australian, Kate has lived in the USA for a few years, but has ‘popped’ over to Blenheim as it is an event she has always wanted to compete at, although it was quite a last minute thing. She told us about her journey and why she thinks the Blenheim course will suit her horse VS McCuan Civil Liberty
Kate Chadderton
Sam Griffiths and Isle Valley
Kate is currently in equal 80th place on 61.9, just fractionally ahead of Sam Griffiths riding On The Brash – Sam also is in 52nd place on a relatively new ride, Isle Valley. Another Australian riding today was Bill Levett on Alexander NJ and, although Bill was slightly disappointed with his score, he was pleased with the 10 year old horse he has brought on since finding him as a five year old
Bill Levett riding Alexander NJ (above) and Kevin McNab riding Dustman (below)
Bill is currently in 40th place on a score of 52.80 and Kevin McNab, who yesterday rode Dustman, his horse that was competed in Australia by Charlotte Price during Kevin’s absence, has finished the dressage phase in equal 33rd place on 50.9.
Emily Beshear and Shame On The Moon
The top ten placings did not change at all after the lunch break but the USA’s Emily Beshear added to America’s good results in the dressage with a score of 44.5 and 14th place, the highest placed American rider after the leader Clark Montgomery. This is the first time that Emily has competed her horse Shame On The Moon in Europe and she has travelled here with the help of a USEF Land Rover Competition Grant. Will Coleman and Elisa Wallace are also recipients of this grant, enabling them to travel to Blenheim while Lauren Kieffer is at Blenheim with the help of a Karen E. Stives Endowment Fund for High Performance Eventing Competition Grant through the USET Foundation – no doubt many riders from Australia and New Zealand would love to have a similar opportunity!
Clark now goes into the cross country with 3.4 penalty points in hand over Sandra Auffarth and the advantage of being much more familiar with the Blenheim terrain on his experienced horse Loughan Glen. However you certainly cannot overlook the current World Champion on the course where “There is a lot of big jumping to be done and I think the time will be tight – it’s a true test, but I think it is horse-friendly and will give both horse and rider a good experience,” says Eric Winter.
The CCI3* riders head out on the cross country course tomorrow while the CIC3* combinations show jump in the afternoon and complete with cross country on Sunday.
CIC3*
Geoff Curran riding River Derg is one of three Irish riders in the top ten
Jonelle Price still leads the CIC3* 8/9 Year Old class on her score of 33.2 after the second day of dressage but 26 year old Astier Nicolas from France has joined her as the only other person to perform a sub-40 test on a score of 39.4. Astier, who has been based in England since 2012, is also riding Molakai in the CCI3* (currently in 16th place) but it was his nine year old gelding Spes Addit’Or who was sixth as a seven year old at Le Lion d’Angers, that put in a strong performance today.
Astier is joined in the top ten by his compatriot Sidney Dufresne riding Tresor Mail, not surprisingly by the very popular sire Jaguar Mail, who are currently in seventh place on 44.1 at their first CIC3*. Ireland also now have three in the top ten with Geoff Curran riding River Derg in 10th place and Fraser Duffy riding Fernhill Revelation in eighth place, joining Jonty Evans who is now in sixth. While others were busy riding today, Jonty was demonstrating his culinary skills in the Cookery Theatre which sadly we missed but hopefully we’ll catch up with him at another time to get some recipes and cooking tips!
Last year’s CCI3* winner (and a very good James Bond lookalike) Francis Whittington is the only British rider in the top ten of this class riding Cavalier Venture, a nine year old previously ridden by Mary King. They are in ninth while another popular British rider Harry Meade is in 19th place on Away Cruising, a big grey horse that Harry says has taken a while to grow into himself
Harry Meade and Away Cruising
